Video: Libya vs. Iraq

posted at 4:13 pm on March 25, 2011 by Allahpundit

Via Jonah Goldberg, mordant robot theater on a slow Friday afternoon. It was posted to YouTube on March 22, the day before Howard Dean introduced America to the “Democratic wars are okay” school of foreign policy.

The most obvious difference between Libya and Iraq, needless to say, is who’s doing the dictator-toppling on the ground. At the moment, if this devastating report from McClatchy is accurate, it sounds like … no one is.

Rebel fighters who once vowed to seize Tripoli from Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi instead have retreated from their forward positions to defend their homes, saying their rebel council isn’t leading them, they don’t trust their military commanders and their army is divided.

Days of interviews throughout Libya’s rebel-dominated eastern half provide a grim picture of the group whose side the U.S. and its coalition partners have taken in a fight whose goal, if unstated, is to drive Gadhafi from power after 42 years. The rebels hardly seem ready to take the lead…

“We don’t have an army,” said Lt. Saleh Ibrahim, a former restaurateur who is now supposed to be a rebel commander. “We have been betrayed by infiltrators on the frontline. And when Benghazi came under attack, our government fled to Egypt. We are not safe here. For me, at least I will defend my family.”…

At the 7th of April Army base here, a major rebel army headquarters, Ibrahim, 57, says any appearance of organization is illusory. He said he’s too embarrassed to invite reporters inside because, he said, he doesn’t want the world to see “all the rubbish we have.”…

“All the tanks here are for show only. We don’t have ammunition. We don’t have weapons. We don’t have anything,” he said, the exasperation evidence in his voice.

There’s much more at the link, all of it relentlessly dire. Admiral Gortney admitted to reporters today that Qaddafi’s ground troops are still a major threat, a full week’s worth of airstrikes notwithstanding, and there are cryptic reports in the last hour or so of Qaddafi having “promoted his entire army.” What that means isn’t clear — maybe it’s a simple case of a nut being nutty — but it could mean that he’s now pressing civilians in his territory into military service, either as gunmen or as human shields. As unlikely as it sounds, there do seem to be Libyans who are devoted to him, whose hearts would break if the Great Man ended up at the end of a rope. Quote from a Qaddafi opponent: “They’ve known no one else all their lives. They think he’s in their blood.”

As I’m writing this, an NPR correspondent is tweeting, “Our Pentagon source says Gaddafi still has the advantage, and the US is considering the possibility of arming opposition with RPGs.” So that’ll be the first phase of escalation. No surprise, given the report yesterday about State Department lawyers searching for loopholes in the UN resolution.

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Mr. Obama’s administration, however, has clearly tried to avoid the debate over a strategy beyond that by shifting the burden of enforcing the United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing force on to France, Britain and other allies, including Arab nations like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which on Thursday said that it would contribute warplanes to the effort. In other words, the American exit strategy is not necessarily the coalition’s exit strategy.

“We didn’t want to get sucked into an operation with uncertainty at the end,” the senior administration official said. “In some ways, how it turns out is not on our shoulders.“

The most obvious difference between Libya and Iraq, needless to say, is who’s doing the dictator-toppling on the ground.

There is no difference between the Iraniand and Libyan Muslim Rev0lutions.

Ayatollah Khomeini only had a few dozen followers while the riots were going on. It was only AFTER the Shah had left that one guy rose above the rest of the pack of Mullahs in proving that he hated Joos and The Great Satan America more than any of his “Brothers.”

“Our Pentagon source says Gaddafi still has the advantage, and the US is considering the possibility of arming opposition with RPGs.”

Remember how “pouring sea water” into the reactor/s at Fukushima was “their last desperate attempt” before the inevitable apocalypse? Well, this action is actually “a last desperate attempt” before it all falls apart (the pathetic coalition/committee, perhaps even the whole Operation).
There is simply no cohesive fighting force on the ground in Libya, no weapon supplied to them will change anything. They are not the Northern Alliance of Afghanistan.

As I’m writing this, an NPR correspondent is tweeting, “Our Pentagon source says Gaddafi still has the advantage, and the US is considering the possibility of arming opposition with RPGs.”
Is anyone else uncomfortable with arming ANY Arabs whatsoever?
disa on March 25, 2011 at 5:27 PM

Raising my hand… Haven’t we been there and dine that before with Iraq and Afghanistan in the 70s? Weren’t those arms and training used against us in terror attacks?

Good heavens. The Telegraph has an article indicating the Libyan rebel leader indicates the rebels have links to al qaeda. Funny but insightful video.

So we’re fighting al qaeda in Afghanistan. Now we’re supporting rebels in Libya with al qaeda links? yeah, what the devil could possibly go wrong.

And now the NYT says the Muslim Brotherhood is taking over the revolution there? Golly, what idiot didn’t see tha coming. For the sake of mercy, can we dump the union thugs and code pink dogs in Egypt?

God help us and preserve our nation.

Does anyone have the link to the extranormal video that was recently posted? I think it dealt with school loans or some such.

I really don’t get it. Sure, a lot of them are just unprincipled, but this is a bit much. Then again, it has always seemed that many anti-war liberals are only anti-war if the war in question could possibly benefit the US in any way.

The blond in the vid is like my sister in law, exactly like her.Makes for tense family visits.As for that NPR report about arming the rebels, are we going to ask the North Vietnamese for RPGs? We don’t use them and don’t produce them.I don’t think we’re going to hand over AT 4s or Javelins.

The most obvious difference between Libya and Iraq, needless to say, is who’s doing the dictator-toppling on the ground. At the moment, if this devastating report from McClatchy is accurate, it sounds like … no one is.

This is the wrong comparison. Dictator toppling is so 2003. This is 1991 all over again. Still, I blame Bush. He should have toppled a dictator back then.

As I’m writing this, an NPR correspondent is tweeting, “Our Pentagon source says Gaddafi still has the advantage, and the US is considering the possibility of arming opposition with RPGs.”

Is anyone else uncomfortable with arming ANY Arabs whatsoever?

disa on March 25, 2011 at 5:27 PM

I understand your point about arming any Arabs whatsoever. On the other hand, as long as we don’t give them anything too good, and give them just enough to keep them fighting each other, I can see doing it. When they’re killing each other they’re not killing us.